A similarly cinematic vibe defines the track 'still i taste the air', an episode describing an intimate experience with 'him' in which she proclaims, 'one night's enough to know where's roots.' 'Hello, everyone, and welcome to the show,' aya greets us in the overture with its eerily processed chants and anxiety-inducing electroacoustic cello feedback reminiscent of Krzysztof Penderecki. Not stylistically, of course, but for its distinct aura, use of mutative digital effects on the vocals, linguistic and musical deconstructions, complexity and contemporaneity. I cannot help but compare im hole to Laurie Anderson's groundbreaking debut Big Science. In the jerky 'dis yacky', the shuffling polyrhythms and 8-bit bleeps give the impression that her grooves are about to collapse, yet you somehow manage to get locked inside. The architecture of her productions is hard to grasp as she somehow manages to translate the heady vibe of slugging J Dilla beats into FWD-thinking dance music. A trans-identifying London-via-Manchester trailblazer known for her shape-shifting artistry and technical dexterity, she's garnered a reputation for her syncretistic aesthetic, crunchy sound design and brain-melting arrangements, backed by her Northern humour and bantering tone. A true sonic contortionist, UK producer Aya Sinclair – formerly known as LOFT – is always looking for new ways to squeeze sound into unknown forms. There are the vapour trails left by the voice(s), perpetually varying in pitch, depth, and texture, like those DeepDream videos, and the multidimensional productions floating in the background – HD sonic tapestries interwoven with crumbs of sound, subtle nuances of timbre, and dramatic synth pyrotechnics that feel out of joint. Listening to vocals tracks, like the sombre earworm 'what if i should fall asleep and slipp under' or self-described ASMR drill of 'Emley lights us moor', my mind constantly shifts focus. Her language is full of unexpected turns. But it is also about phonetics, inflections, rhymes, wordplay, and alliterations ('A sharp scratch and we start with the scalp'). It has a post-humanist dimension as if produced through a robotic larynx with prosthetic vocal cords (the track title 'OoB Prosthesis' – short for 'out of body' – points in this direction).

I experience her extended cyborgian voice as the kind of shiver-inducing vocal psychedelia Kit Mackintosh describes in his recent book Neon Screams. Through her poetry, she conveys concrete images and succulent metaphors ('burned by the yearn I roll a rock frontside'), and by using electrifying vocal modulations, she provokes various effects, both alienating and sublime.

On aya's debut album for Hyperdub, vocals represent a flexible musical tool.

Aya discography